XP Pro Control Panel

[DasFox]

I'm working on a friends laptop and in the control panel for the user accounts I can't get it to show the XP window for picking the "Welcome Screen" and "Fast User Switching"


Here is a screenshot of how it looks:

http://img452.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screen7pf.jpg

How can I get this working?

THANKS

 

[iwearnosox]

Uh...

Start -> Log off -> Switch User?

 

[DasFox]

No no no, hehe

In the Control Panel, check out the screen shot I posted, if I click the "User Accounts" I get that little window, which is not the typical default Window you get, which is like this one, listed below:

http://screenshots.leeindy.com/user_accounts.shtml

This screenshot above I just posted, showing the info as, "Pick a task"... -- "Create a new account" -- "Change the way users log on or off"

This PANEL is what I'm trying to figure out, where it went and how it became disabled, so I can reenable it.

THANKS

 

[scottws]

Looks like your friends' laptop is part of a domain. You can't use the Welcome Screen or Fast User Switching when a PC or laptop is joined to a domain.

 

[stash]

Uh, looks like you are on a domain. No FUS on a domain until Vista.

 

[DasFox]

Ahh ok, how do we kill the domain? This thing is using a wireless nic, so would that of done it?

THANKS

 

[stash]

You don't want to remove it from the domain.

 

[DasFox]

Ok, well is this wireless setup the thing that does this, put it on a domain, so I can try and grasp what is going on here?

THANKS

 

[scottws]

No, the wireless device setup should not have had anything to do with the laptop being joined to a domain.

A domain is for business environments. Is your friends' laptop his own, or was it provided to him by a business?

If it is a business laptop, removing it from the domain will likely break a lot of things.

 

[stash]

Seriously, if this is a laptop provided by work, leave it alone. You will just cause your friend and your friend's IT department a lot of grief.

 

[DasFox]

Who said anything about a Laptop at work? Not me, I said I'm working on a friends lappy, this is a PERSONAL laptop for a HOME user this has nothing to do with work, period, so I would like to remove this domain and figure out how in the first place it was like this.

This laptop is only 2 weeks old and just came brand new from IBM, one of their Thinkpads, so all I can think is, this is what they do to it by default, but this person as a home user does not need to be on any domain, he's only using the PC for personal usage.

THANKS

 

[scottws]

Originally posted by: DasFox
Who said anything about a Laptop at work? Not me, I said I'm working on a friends lappy, this is a PERSONAL laptop for a HOME user this has nothing to do with work, period, so I would like to remove this domain and figure out how in the first place it was like this.

This laptop is only 2 weeks old and just came brand new from IBM, one of their Thinkpads, so all I can think is, this is what they do to it by default, but this person as a home user does not need to be on any domain, he's only using the PC for personal usage.

THANKS

Not that I don't believe you, but this would be extremely unusual.

IBM would not ship a PC or laptop pre-joined to a domain, since you have to know what domain the user would be trying to connect to and have the proper credentials to join the domain. IBM would not know this.

Also, even PCs and laptops sold as "business workstations" and "business notebooks" arrive in workgroup mode, not domain mode.

It would also be very difficult to accidentally attempt to join a domain, unless you were messing around with settings and even then it's not something the average person would stumble on.

 

[scottws]

Ok, here's how you go back to workgroup mode:

1. Right-click My Computer.
2. Select Properties.
3. Click the Computer Name tab.
4. Click Change.
5. Click the radio button next to Workgroup.
6. Type a workgroup name.
7. Click OK.
8. Click OK.
9. Reboot PC.

Just so you know, as stated, if your friend in fact utilizes this for business it is likely that removing it from the domain will break several applications and mapped network drives or folders. If it is in fact part of a business network, under no circumstance should it be removed from the domain.

 

[MadRat]

That machine is not on a domain, its simply showing the machinename for the domain because those are local accounts.

iwearnosox had the solution:

Start -> Log off -> Switch User

Unless he has multiple accounts, which he does not, then he cannot FUS.

 

[scottws]

MadRat, why does he have the domain-like User Accounts applet?

 

[DasFox]

Ok anyhow I just left it alone, it seems just before he was given the pc from his father as a present, that possibly his dad used it for work and did this.

THANKS

 

[MadRat]

Originally posted by: scottws
MadRat, why does he have the domain-like User Accounts applet?

Can you clarify your question? We use the same program for domain and local accounts.

 

[rasczak]

looks like a work lappie to me, I see the citrix icon in the background. just to be sure if it's in a domain or not, right click my computer > properties > computer name and give us a screenie of that. we'll be able to tell if it's in one or not. And be sure that it's ok for him to screw around that laptop, even though his dad gave it to him, the company may want it back.

 

[scottws]

Good catch with the Citrix icon, jpbeleauskas. I didn't even notice it before.

MadRat, what I mean is that I personally have only seen that user accounts applet that DasFox posted a screenshot of in the opening post when a PC or laptop is part of a domain. When it is part of a workgroup, in my experience it always looks like the second shot he posted.

So I'm asking you two similar questions really:
1) If his computer is not part of a domain, why does DasFox's friends' user accounts applet look like the one that is used when a PC or laptop is joined to a domain (even if there are no domain accounts listed in it)?
2) How do you get the user accounts applet to look like it does in the screenshot posted in the first post when a PC or laptop is in workgroup mode? As I stated, the user accounts applet looks like the one in the screenshot posted in the third post on every PC or laptop I've used when it was in workgroup mode.

 

[scottws]

Well, I answered my own question regarding number 2: You can bring that screen up by going to the command-line and typing "control userpasswords2."

However, that still doesn't answer the first question. If I understand it correctly, DasFox is clicking on User Accounts in the Control panel. If the laptop is in workgroup mode, it should bring up a similar screen as that to which he linked in his second post. But it isn't. It's bringing up the screen shown in the opening post. In my experience, this behavior only happens when a laptop or PC is part of a domain.

I concur with jpbelauskas. All this conjecture could easily be remedied if DasFox posted a shot of the Computer Name tab in System Properties.

 

[MadRat]

They are just different MMC's. XP has both installed by default. For what its worth you can just look under the computer name in the system properties control panel applet, type "control sysdm.cpl" without the quotes of course. I wonder if that first snapshot is a glimpse pf the XP default folder style. The second screenshot comes from using the nusrmgr.cpl control panel applet. Either way the first is not lusrmgr.msc.